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US Court Upholds Facebook Settlement With Twins

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the Olympic rowers and identical twins who claimed that they, not Mark Zuckerberg, had the original idea for Facebook, have lost the latest chapter in their six-year legal feud. But it's a loss that comes with a pretty nice consolation prize. And it may not be the end of the case.

A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court here ruled Monday that the brothers, whose fight over Facebook's origins was the narrative arc of the Hollywood hit "The Social Network," cannot back out of a settlement they signed with the company in 2008. That settlement is now worth about $200 million, according to estimates by experts.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/technology/12facebook.html

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Winklevoss twins must accept Facebook deal - courtMark Zuckerberg won a legal battle against former Harvard classmates who accuse him of stealing their idea for Facebook, but the feud made famous on the silver screen is not over yet.

Winklevoss Twins Can't Back Out of Deal on Facebook, Judge SaysThe Winklevoss twins must live with the settlement they struck with Facebook Inc., a U.S. appeals court ruled Monday.

"At some point, litigation must come to an end," wrote Chief Judge Alex Kozinski in his opinion. "That point has now been reached."

In a 2008 settlement -- dramatized last year by the Hollywood film "The Social Network" -- Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss got $20 million in cash and $45 million in Facebook stock to drop their suit claiming that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea after he agreed to work for their company, called ConnectU, on a similar website.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704662604576257070922158998.html